Saturday, December 22, 2007

I went to the stores today to get some DVDs of local movies. And I had the strangest of experiences.

First off, it's a fact that our DVD stores have more Bollywood and Korean films than local ones. And you'll find mostly Saiful Apek's face staring back at you from the local DVD shelf. Right now, the shelves are mostly filled with the very colourful (and shiny-shiny) DVDs of Otai.

Secondly, you'd be hard-pressed to find most local titles that had been released in the cinemas. Thankfully, Yasmin Ahmad's films are still widely available (but don't hope for a Rabun DVD though). I was looking particularly for Osman Ali's Puaka Tebing Biru, but had to settle for only the VCD, and the title is carried only in a couple places in town. Thankfully, Zombi Kg Pisang was easy to find, and on DVD too.

But all the while, when I was browsing in this one particular store in a major mall, one of the store minders stood right next to me ... and just stared. I swear, he did, and he had this look on his face, of disbelief, like he was saying: "Hey man, why the heck are you buying local titles? Do you have nothing better to do?"

That was a little disconcerting, and I guess, it shows that there's still a stigma attached to local movies. Most would regard that, yes, it's fine to pay RM10 to see a local film in the cinemas, but to fork out RM20 for a DVD is insane in their eyes. But hey, RM20 for a DVD is dirt cheap, and I've bought Thai DVDs in Bangkok for that price, albeit their transfers are much better than ours.

And when I went to the counter to pay for the three local DVDs I'd picked, I got more stares of disbelief from the cashier. It was infuriating, to say the least. I wonder if they throw the same kind of stares at people who buy Kitaro In Concert or Kenny G Live.